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Here's everything you need to know today - in under 3 minutes.

Today's big stories:

⛑ Kikki.K could be saved - again

👾 TikTok partners with Aussie NFT startup Immutable

🤑 Sony's COVID spending spree continues

Oh and get this...

For the month of October, we're gonna be helping you whip your credit score into shape. Yep, welcome to Flux's Credit Score Restore. Every week, we'll be dropping exclusive content on our Flux app to help you smash your financial goals. Download the app so ya don't miss out!

TikTok stars get on the NFT payroll thanks to an Aussie fintech

Background: NFTs - aka non-fungible tokens - are just about everywhere these days. They're a one-off digital token that represents ownership of a unique asset (like Jack Dorsey's first tweet).  

What happened: Aussie fintech Immutable is an online platform that lets developers create NFT projects, and also lets users buy and sell NFTs.

What else: Immutable has partnered with TikTok to allow a selection of TikTok's most popular vids (think Lil Nas X and Bella Poarch) to be auctioned off as NFTs. It means creators will get permanent royalties for their content.

So what's the key learning?

💡NFT royalties are fast becoming a new breed of compensation for artists and creators online.

💡Unlike regular royalties, NFT royalties give creators a percentage of the sale price every time the NFT creation is re-sold on a marketplace. In other words, when there's a secondary sale of your NFT, you'll get an automatic payout. Kaching.

💡Most marketplaces will let the NFT creator choose their royalty percentage - but it's generally somewhere between 5 and 10%. Until now, TikTok creators had to rely on sponsorships or ads to make money from their content. Not anymore.

Stationery brand Kikki.K could be saved from the depths of its despair...again

Background: Kikki.K is the pricey stationery brand that sells Swedish-style notebooks, diaries, pens, planners etc. Ya know, the ones that feature inspirational quotes, like 'Love yourself like your life depends on it'.

What happened: Kikki.K was founded in Melbourne back in 2001. And once upon a time, this crew were thriving. But the company collapsed for the first time in March 2020, but were saved by a US company.

What else: Fast-forward 17 months and Kikki.K found itself in voluntary administration once again. But new reports show the administrators have received 9 offers, and are in talks to ink a deal to save the company.

So what's the key learning?

💡When a company can't pay its debts when they are due (*cough* Kikki.K *cough*), it's deemed insolvent.

💡And when companies become insolvent...they've got a couple options to choose from:

1. They can go into liquidation. In other words, all the company's assets are sold to pay its debts. And then the company gets deregistered, and ceases to exist.
   
   
2. They can go into voluntary administration. In other words, an administrator is appointed to the company to take a look at the company's assets and debts, and make a recommendation about its future.

💡When a company is in voluntary administration, other companies can swoop in and buy it - and usually at a bargain price. That's what could happen with Kikki.K now.

Sony's COVID spending spree continues - and same TBH

Background: Sony is the electronics company behind the beloved PlayStation - which actually came out back in 1994. Feel old yet?!

What happened: The multinational entertainment company has just acquired Bluepoint Games, which is like the master of remasters. It brought the famous Shadow of the Colossus remakes, as well as remakes of the cult-classic Gravity Rush.

What else: It's the company's fourth acquisition this year, as it strives to get new, killer content for the new PS5, which launched in November last year.

So what's the key learning?

💡Sony's purchase of Bluepoint Games is what's known as a strategic acquisition.

💡In high growth companies like Sony, there are generally three kinds of acquisition strategies:

1. The acquihire - which is where you purchase smaller companies for the purpose of hiring the key talent at that company
   
   
2. The product acquisition - which is where you acquire another company to fill a product hole. Like when Microsoft bought ClipChamp to fill its video editing tool-shaped void
   
   
3. The strategic acquisition - which is where you purchase a company that's doing something so well, ya just couldn't do it any better yourself.  

💡The end goal of all acquisitions is to make the collection of acquired companies more profitable than the sum of their individual parts.